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Why Miami Dolphins’ Ndamukong Suh uses acupuncture needles

DAVIE — Ndamukong Suh is 6-feet-4, 305 pounds and he's played in 110 regular-season NFL games and it takes a toll on his body, as it does all professional football players.

One thing Suh has found to be helpful is acupuncture, the insertion of thin needles into the skin at strategic points of the body. Typically, five to twenty needles are inserted for 10 to 20 minutes, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Suh recently used a form of social media to illustrate what a foot looks like with the needles inserted.

So does it hurt?

"I think any needle hurts, going into the body," Suh said with a smile after Sunday's Miami Dolphins training camp practice. "But at the end of the day you get good reactions from it. Especially if you have a professional that does it."

Suh said he began using acupuncture as part of his recovery following his rookie season in Detroit in 2010.

"It's a modality that can help you," Suh said. "It's honestly no different than massage. It's just more pin-pointed and allows you to go deeper. That's one of the benefits of it."

According to the Mayo Clinic, traditional Chinese medicine cites acupuncture as a technique for balancing the flow of energy or life force. In the West, acupuncture is viewed as ways to stimulate nerves, muscles and tissue.

Veteran Dolphin defensive lineman Cam Wake says that after the first game of the year, no NFL player is 100 percent healthy. But that the goal is to find ways to get as close to healthy as possible each and every week.

Suh views acupuncture as a part of his health plan.

"At the end of the day it's about finding different ways to push your body, allowing your body to adapt and adjust to different things and keep it always guessing on how and what's going to be best for it to recover because if you do continuous things you body is going to eventually adapt to it and it won't be as effective," Suh said. "Recovery is a big thing. Staying strong is one of the bigger things as well. Guys think just being in weight room is enough. You've got to actually lift the weights. Stretching is a huge thing for me. I could talk for hours on this stuff."